Growing up in a small town can make connecting with music all
the more special. While brothers Ryan and Aaron Crane didn’t come of
age in a small town per se (Charlottetown’s population tops 32,000),
you’d be hard pressed to find a more endearing introduction to
indie-rock on the island.
“It’s a typical big brother hand-me-down record collection to the
little brother. I remember when [Aaron] was 10 years old, in the
summertime his friends would be outside playing baseball and he’d be
home in his bedroom listening to Slanted and Enchanted by
Pavement or a Belle and Sebastian record,” says Ryan Crane in
describing how he educated his younger brother.
Typical? Hardly. Fate? As one looks back on Smothered in Hugs’ 2008,
it seems certain the Crane brothers were predestined to catch the music
bug.
Named by the younger Crane in 2002—after a Guided By Voices
song—Smothered in Hugs have gained some serious attention this year
within the Canadian music scene. They performed at North By Northeast
and Pop Montreal, opened gigs in southern Ontario for Holy Fuck and
released their first full-length, The Healing Power of
Injury.
Wild to consider all this has come from a band whose lead singer was
once unsure if he’d get a chance to pursue his primordial passion.
“I was hanging around Charlottetown [in 2002], and I really wanted
to play music. I grew up loving music and idolizing all sorts of bands.
It seemed like something I really wanted to do, but I couldn’t find
anyone I was comfortable forming a band with. As soon as my brother
came out of the woodwork and said he wanted to do this…it seemed like
something we could do, and it seemed like it could be fun.”
Onwards they went, and with the addition in 2005 of cousin Todd
MacLean on guitar alongside Ryan, Aaron on drums and the younger
Crane’s high school chum Josh Byrne on bass, Smothered in Hugs got
serious. (Guitarist/keyboardist Andrew Murray joined late last
year.)
The new album shares similarities with the ramshackle indie-rock
stylings of Guided By Voices, largely due to big-time hooks and huge
choruses. Comparisons made by other media to The Replacements seem even
more apt. Ryan’s vocals have a Paul Westerberg-esque combination of
urgency and weariness, and coupled with the aforementioned melodicism
of Smothered in Hugs’ songs it wouldn’t be hard to imagine some of
their tracks fitting in on a mid-career Replacements classic like
Tim.
Their propensity for big hooks and fun rockin’ seems to come
naturally for a lot of the island bands who’ve attracted attention
beyond Confederation Bridge. Along with Two Hours Traffic, The Danks
and Boxer the Horse, Smothered in Hugs are now one of several island
indie bands creating a buzz.
“We’re all really good friends with one another,” Ryan says when
asked about his fellow PEI rockers. “We party together, we hang out
together, we go to lunch together, we drive around in cars and listen
to music together and we give each other advice.”
Does that advice ever revolve around the idea of relocating to a
place with a larger, more renowned music scene, such as the
ever-cosmopolitan supercity of Toronto?
“I don’t think it matters as much where you’re from anymore as far
as geography—if you’re willing to tour. With the internet and blogs
and online publications you don’t have to live in a particular town and
actually buy a hardcopy of a magazine or journal, you can just get on
the internet.”
In fact, Ryan sees a lot of upside to sticking things out in
Charlottetown. With less competition for the attention of audiences,
they’re given more opportunity to continually refine their craft.
“You’re not lost in a big swamp with other bands where you’ll have
trouble getting gigs. If you play a lot of shows and work hard you can
develop a pretty strong following in your hometown.”
With a national release of the album planned for next month and an
upcoming spring tour, Smothered in Hugs hope the rest of the country
will embrace them much like Charlottetown has.
Collagen Rock Weekend: Smothered in Hugs w/Mardeen
and Boxer the Horse, Friday, January 9 at the Seahorse, 1665 Argyle,
$10, 423-7200. Two Hours Traffic w/The Danks and The Death Avengers,
Saturday, January 10 at the Seahorse, $10.
This article appears in Jan 8-14, 2009.